Travelling through Tennessee, it’s not hard to find signs promoting Ruby Falls. Of the sights we elected to visit on our day trip to Lookout Mountain, probably my favorite visit was Ruby Falls, but Rock City was a close second. Though both are the typical tourist attractions, crowded and a bit on the expensive side, it’s no wonder why they are popular. Rock City will be featured in an upcoming Travel Tuesday… but I digress, this post is about an underground waterfall inside of the limestone caverns formed during centuries of erosion due to underground water flows eating away at the limestone.

In 1928, Leo Lambert, a cave explorer by avocation, decided that the limestone caves inside of Lookout Mountain would make an interesting tourist attraction. At this point, the cave where the falls are located had not yet been discovered as there are no natural openings to that area inside the mountain. During the creation of an opening to provide a second egress to the main cave, Leo and his team discovered the waterfall cavern. He named the falls after his wife, Ruby. With the discovery, Leo found himself with two attractions, the original cave he planned to make into an attraction, and the newly discovered caverns that led to Ruby Falls. Eventually the public’s preference to select the waterfall cave led to the closure of the original attraction.

After touring Carlsbad Caverns, a National Park where rangers do their best to light naturally to show the beauty of the natural elements in their natural colors, the folks who own Ruby Falls have no such restriction. You’ll find plenty of colored lights giving the entire cave a bit of a “light show” feel. There are plenty of signs defining the names of the shapes in the mind of the discoverers (and probably owners). The gallery of images below provides a handful of examples.

The tours are narrated with friendly guides who describe the various formations on the longish walk to the falls, the final attraction in the cave, as you might expect. The passages are narrow with no provision for handicap accessibility. Along the way to the falls, our group stops regularly to let other groups who have already visited the falls pass by on their way back. People returning from the falls have no such waits and are given the right-of-way for a quick return to the elevators for the ride back to the surface. Often these breaks are punctuated with information from the tour guide or simply a time for questions and answers.

My preference would have been for the way the National Park Service lights their caves using neutral lighting that provides a view of the true colors of the formations. However, natural colors of cave formations are much more subtle. Clearly, Ruby Falls is a private attraction and as such, the colored lights become part of the show. The large cavern features loud music as well as an ever-changing light show, several samples of which are included in the gallery of images.  Even the elevator ride down the 1100-foot (335 m) shaft is accompanied by a guide with some basic information for the group. At the bottom, there is a short wait as the group of 30 or so visitors are shuttled to the bottom in small elevator-sized groups. The gallery of images below features several views of the falls as well as some of the attractions we viewed along the way. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

Lookout Mountain provides a commanding view of the city of Chattanooga. As you might imagine, that vantage point made it a prime location for a military installation. In November, 1863, the mountain was the site of the “Battle Above the Clouds” between Grant’s Union Army and Bragg’s Confederates.

The National Park is comprised of six sites around the city of Chattanooga and the general area. All of the sites are related to the Civil War. Indeed, the battles fought here are considered to be the beginning of the end for the Army of the Confederate States.

The site we visited is a short walk from the Inclined Railway’s upper terminal. The short walk through the residential neighborhood takes only a few minutes. A visitor center near the entrance provides background information on the park and the sites it comprises. A large monument features descriptions of the events of those historic days. Though we didn’t stick around to check them out, there are battle recreations held on a regular basis.

The views from the top of Lookout Mountain are impressive. There are trails for visitors to explore and to simply enjoy the panoramic views of the city of Chattanooga. Next week on Travel Tuesday, we visit Ruby Falls, undoubtedly our favorite attraction during our visit to Chattanooga Tennessee.

John Steiner

One of our favorite things to do at the Steiner Family Reunion is explore the area. It’s become practice to schedule our reunions for three days. This allows plenty of time for family visits and time to explore. Holding the reunion at family member’s locations around the country gives us all a chance to check out new and interesting places. Regular readers of my Travel Tuesday posts have followed us from Madison, Wisconsin to Nashville, Tennessee on our way to the reunion this year at Lynchburg, Tennessee. Our second reunion at this location, almost a decade ago we found ourselves in Hasty Hollow for the 2007 reunion.

This year we headed to Chattanooga for some sightseeing on the first morning of the reunion. A small group of extended family met us there, including our son and daughter-in-law from North Carolina among others. We visited three attractions that day, two in Tennessee and one in Georgia. Our original draw to the area was Ruby Falls, but for a package deal, we could not only visit the falls, we could ride the Incline Railway and gain admission to Rock City. All of these attractions are features of Lookout Mountain, a mountain ridge that is located in the corners of Georgia and Alabama, along the southern border of Tennessee. Rising some 1530 feet (466 m) above the city of Chattanooga, the views are impressive. It is a perfect location for a military installation, but that story is for next week. Our goal this week is to view the city from the large glass windows of the Incline Railway.

The ride is short, and you can board from the bottom in the St. Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga, or you can drive to the top and ride the railway down. We planned to go from bottom to top, but we stopped for directions and the friendly gentleman who gave us directions routed us to the top. No matter, our package deal included round trip tickets so we rode down first, then back up to the top.

We met our son and daughter-in-law at Ruby Falls, as well as a cousin and his family, first-time attendees to the Steiner Family Reunion. Leaving the falls in separate vehicles, my son found the Incline Railway at the station at St. Elmo. They rode the incline up to meet us at the top before we went down. My son, Josh, told us of some of the narration they heard on the ride, and I was looking forward to hearing it. As it turned out, we ended up riding the same car with the broken audio system back to the top so we never did hear the narrative.

The two cars are roomy and comfortable with plenty of glass to view the scenery. As it turned out, the car we rode down the incline had two problems, the narration system was broken so it was a silent ride. Also, for some reason, the windows on the right side of the car appeared to be fogged over, not from wet or dampness, as it was dry, not an issue with the windows on the other side. In the image above, you can see the windows on the left are very clear. On the right, not so much.

Once back at the top, we walked down the way to the Chickamauga Military Park. Whether or not you choose to ride the railway to the top of Lookout Mountain, I would recommend stopping at the park. The views of the city are fantastic and the history of the area is riveting. But that is a story for next week…

Truth is, of the things we did at Lookout Mountain, if I were to do it all again, I would probably skip the Incline Railway. As part of the package, it’s an OK deal, but the other places we visited were higher on my list of fun things to do.

John Steiner